bedlam

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“
In one asylum in London, St. Mary's of Bethlehem Hospital - form which the word bedlam is derived - the public could buy tickets to observe the antics of the inmates, much as we would pay to see a circus sideshow or animals at the zoo.

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Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A place or situation of noisy uproar and confusion.
  2. noun Archaic An insane asylum.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Then he was a bedlam, all by himself Monk was putting on one of his best bedlams now. —  029 - Quest of Qui
  • Loosened boulders tumbled down the canyon sides After that unexpected bedlam, there was an abysmal silence. —  071 - Mad Mesa
  • Securing any sort of facts in the bedlam was difficult. —  008 - The Sargasso Ogre
  • He leaped suddenly onto the curious air car in which lay the limp form of Jane Davidson Two or three men attempting to connect the rod wires were knocked down by Inspector Higgins's bullets During this bedlam, a voice started speaking quietly. —  051 - Mad Eyes
  • It was bedlam, and Merritt would have stepped back but for Sazhje's forbidding hold on his arm. —  Cherryh, CJ - Hestia (v1.0) (html)
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This word has been looked up 160 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English Bedlem, Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, an institution in London for the mentally ill.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also bedlem, bethlem, from Middle English bedlem, bedleem, bethlem, a corruption of Bethlehem (Middle English Bethleem, Bedlem): see Bethlehem. See def. 1.
 

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/ˈbɛdləm/
by American Heritage

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